DOI Artikel:
Azzi Visentini, Margherita: Around the historiography of Italian gardens: Georgina Masson's contribution; [Rezension]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14576#0045
AROUND THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ITALIAN GARDENS: GEORGINA MASSON'S CONTRIBUTION
39
9. View from the top of the cascade at Villa Garzoni at Collodi
of gardens, in three volumes entitled Caos o Farragine that are preserved in the Doria Pamphili Archives in
Rome, along with other manuscripts, drawings and prints by Bettini. Fortunately, the thorough indices in this
édition greatly facilitate consultation.
Indeed, Masson's book has a plethora of original insights that mention - or, rather, barely graze - unpre-
cedented problems, which later studies would tackle with far greater scientific depth, applying the interdis-
ciplinary approach that has characterized the astonishing development of garden history over the past several
décades. Thèse issues range from the relationship between art and nature, science and technique, to the mean-
ing that the garden was intended to convey and thus its iconographie programme, entrusted chiefly to statu-
ary; from the use of the garden to its transformations over time, including reconstruction and restoration, and
the évolution of how it was perceived, which descriptions and views allow us to grasp; from the sources and
documents that can be used for thèse studies to methodological problems28, and on to the use of végétation
over the centuries and the présence and role of flowers. In effect, in the latter area of research, about which
Platt and Wharton had opposite opinions, Masson made an original contribution, paving the way for impor-
tant works by MacDougall, Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, Claudia Lazzaro and Ada Segre29.
28 Regarding the development of this discipline in récent décades, see J.D. H u nt (éd.), Garden History. Issues, Approaches,
Methods, Washington, D.C. 1989; M. С o n a n (éd.), Perspectives on Garden Historiés, Washington 1999; M. В e n e s, Italian and
French Gardens. A Century of Historieal Study (1900-2000), [in:] M. В e n e ś, D. Harris (eds.), Villas and Gardens in Early
Modem Italy and France, Cambridge (UK), 2001, pp. 1-16 (this treatment has a strong North American perspective); Azzi
V i s e n t i n i, Storia de i giardini...
29 Masson also attempted to reinstate the distribution of the plants in a flowerbed on the island of Citera described and il-
lustrated in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (p. 61 of the 1961 Italian édition, discussed by W. Hans m a n n, Gartenkunst der Renais-
sance und des Barock, Kôln 1983, p. 19) and devoted a brief but detailed chapter of her book to "The Flowers of Italian Gardens"
(pp. 279-92), a starting point for later studies of a topic investigated not only by Masson (Italian Flower Connoisseurs, "Apollo',
September 1968, pp. 164-171; Fiori qualipezzi da collezione nell'Italia del secolo XVII, "Arte lllustrata", 3 [1970], nos. 30-33,
pp. 100-109; see also here note 33), but also by C. Lazzaro, The Italian Renaissance Garden. From the Conventions ofPlanting,
Design, and Ornament to the Grand Gardens of Sixteenth-Century Italy, New Haven-London 1990; L. Tongiorgi To m a s i,
Il giardino, Porto, il frutteto. Le scienze orticole in Toscana nei disegni, tempère e incisioni dal XVIal XVIIIsecolo, [in:] L. fon-
39
9. View from the top of the cascade at Villa Garzoni at Collodi
of gardens, in three volumes entitled Caos o Farragine that are preserved in the Doria Pamphili Archives in
Rome, along with other manuscripts, drawings and prints by Bettini. Fortunately, the thorough indices in this
édition greatly facilitate consultation.
Indeed, Masson's book has a plethora of original insights that mention - or, rather, barely graze - unpre-
cedented problems, which later studies would tackle with far greater scientific depth, applying the interdis-
ciplinary approach that has characterized the astonishing development of garden history over the past several
décades. Thèse issues range from the relationship between art and nature, science and technique, to the mean-
ing that the garden was intended to convey and thus its iconographie programme, entrusted chiefly to statu-
ary; from the use of the garden to its transformations over time, including reconstruction and restoration, and
the évolution of how it was perceived, which descriptions and views allow us to grasp; from the sources and
documents that can be used for thèse studies to methodological problems28, and on to the use of végétation
over the centuries and the présence and role of flowers. In effect, in the latter area of research, about which
Platt and Wharton had opposite opinions, Masson made an original contribution, paving the way for impor-
tant works by MacDougall, Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, Claudia Lazzaro and Ada Segre29.
28 Regarding the development of this discipline in récent décades, see J.D. H u nt (éd.), Garden History. Issues, Approaches,
Methods, Washington, D.C. 1989; M. С o n a n (éd.), Perspectives on Garden Historiés, Washington 1999; M. В e n e s, Italian and
French Gardens. A Century of Historieal Study (1900-2000), [in:] M. В e n e ś, D. Harris (eds.), Villas and Gardens in Early
Modem Italy and France, Cambridge (UK), 2001, pp. 1-16 (this treatment has a strong North American perspective); Azzi
V i s e n t i n i, Storia de i giardini...
29 Masson also attempted to reinstate the distribution of the plants in a flowerbed on the island of Citera described and il-
lustrated in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (p. 61 of the 1961 Italian édition, discussed by W. Hans m a n n, Gartenkunst der Renais-
sance und des Barock, Kôln 1983, p. 19) and devoted a brief but detailed chapter of her book to "The Flowers of Italian Gardens"
(pp. 279-92), a starting point for later studies of a topic investigated not only by Masson (Italian Flower Connoisseurs, "Apollo',
September 1968, pp. 164-171; Fiori qualipezzi da collezione nell'Italia del secolo XVII, "Arte lllustrata", 3 [1970], nos. 30-33,
pp. 100-109; see also here note 33), but also by C. Lazzaro, The Italian Renaissance Garden. From the Conventions ofPlanting,
Design, and Ornament to the Grand Gardens of Sixteenth-Century Italy, New Haven-London 1990; L. Tongiorgi To m a s i,
Il giardino, Porto, il frutteto. Le scienze orticole in Toscana nei disegni, tempère e incisioni dal XVIal XVIIIsecolo, [in:] L. fon-